More than a dozen files, including a photo of President Donald Trump, have mysteriously vanished from the Justice Department’s Epstein files.

The disappearance happened less than a day after the files were posted, with no explanation from the government and no notice to the public.

The missing files, which were available Friday, contained a photo Trump, alongside his wife Melania, Epstein, and the pedophile’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

Other images included paintings depicting nude women, and one showing a series of photographs along a credenza and in drawers.

The unexplained missing files fueled speculation about what was taken down and why the public was not notified, compounding long-standing intrigue about Epstein and the powerful figures who surrounded him.

Democrats have now accused the White House of a cover-up and are demanding ‘transparency for the American public.’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer led the criticisms of the DOJ after the files went missing, alleging it ‘could be one of the biggest cover ups in American history.’

The Justice Department did not say why the files were removed or whether their disappearance was intentional. The Justice Department has not responded to a request for comment.

+11
View gallery

At least 16 files disappeared from the Justice Department’s webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein- including a photograph showing President Donald Trump

+11
View gallery

The missing files, which were available Friday, contained a photo Trump, alongside Jeffrey Epstein, Melania Trump and Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell

Politicians on both side of the aisle have voiced concerns about the disappearing Epstein files.

‘This is a White House Cover-Up,’ Democrats on the House Oversight Committee wrote in a tweet.

The Committee, in another post, also pointed to the missing image featuring a Trump photo, writing: ‘What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public.’

Schumer, referencing a comment made by Trump’s Chief of Staff, said the removal of the files is what ‘Susie Wiles meant when she said Trump and Epstein were “young, single playboys together”.’

Wiles, in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, addressed the Epstein files and Trump’s relationship with the pedophile.

‘They were, you know, sort of young, single, whatever—I know it’s a passé word but sort of young, single playboys together,’ Wiles told the outlet. She also admitted Trump ‘is in the file’ but that ‘he’s not in the file doing anything awful.’

Schumer’s post added: ‘And if they’re taking this down, just imagine how much more they’re trying to hide…

‘This could be one of the biggest cover ups in American history.’

+11
View gallery

Democrats have now accused the White House of a cover-up and are demanding ‘transparency for the American public’

Congresswoman Shontel Brown echoed the members of her party, writing in a post on X: ‘Trump and his lackeys have proven one thing – they’re absolutely committed to the coverup.’

Rep. Summer Lee demanded the ‘cover up must end.’ She also refuted the claim that Trump’s Administration is the ‘most transparent in history,’ citing how the Epstein files that have been released were heavily redacted.

‘Most transparent admin in history? These redactions are an absolute mockery of the survivors of Epstein’s abuse and the American people,’ she tweeted.

‘The DOJ is still compelled by our subpoena to release the full, unredacted files to the Oversight Committee. This cover up must end.’

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican, also accused the DOJ of ‘flaunting the law.’

The Justice Department, in an automatic reply Saturday, said the Trump Administration is committed to transparency.

‘The Trump Administration is the most transparent in history. By releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, and President Trump recently calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, the Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have,’ the statement said.

‘And while President Trump is delivering on his promises, Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries and Stacey Plaskett have yet to explain why they were soliciting money and meetings from Epstein after he was a convicted s3x offender. The American people deserve answers.’

The episode deepened concerns that had already emerged from the Justice Department’s much-anticipated document release.

The tens of thousands of pages made public offered little new insight into Epstein’s crimes or the prosecutorial decisions that allowed him to avoid serious federal charges for years, while omitting some of the most closely watched materials, including FBI interviews with victims and internal Justice Department memos on charging decisions.

Join the debate

What’s YOUR take on the disappearing Epstein files?

Go to comments

+11
View gallery

There was a series of never-before-seen photos of former President Bill Clinton but fleetingly few of Trump. Both have been associated with Epstein, but both have since disowned those friendships

+11
View gallery

Democrat Rep. Summer Lee demanded the ‘cover up must end.’ She also refuted the claim that Trump’s Administration is the ‘most transparent in history,’ citing how the Epstein files that have been released were heavily redacted

+11
View gallery

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican, also accused the DOJ of ‘flaunting the law’

Some of the most consequential records expected about Epstein are nowhere to be found in the Justice Department’s initial disclosures, which span tens of thousands of pages.

Missing are FBI interviews with survivors and internal Justice Department memos examining charging decisions – records that could have helped explain how investigators viewed the case and why Epstein was allowed in 2008 to plead guilty to a relatively minor state-level prostitution charge.

The records, required to be released under a recent law passed by Congress, hardly reference several powerful figures long associated with Epstein, including Britain’s former Prince Andrew, renewing questions about who was scrutinized, who was not, and how much the disclosures truly advance public accountability

Among the fresh nuggets: insight into the Justice Department’s decision to abandon an investigation into Epstein in the 2000s, which enabled him to plead guilty to that state-level charge, and a previously unseen 1996 complaint accusing Epstein of stealing photographs of children.

The releases so far have been heavy on images of Epstein’s homes in New York City and the US Virgin Islands, with some photos of celebrities and politicians.

There was a series of never-before-seen photos of former President Bill Clinton but fleetingly few of Trump.

Both have been associated with Epstein, but both have since disowned those friendships.

Neither has been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and there was no indication the photos played a role in the criminal cases brought against him.

Trump spent months trying to block the disclosure of the files linked to Epstein, who di3d in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on s3x-trafficking charges.

The Republican president ultimately bowed to mounting pressure from Congress – including members of his own party – and last month signed the law compelling publication of the materials.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche acknowledged in a letter to Congress that the Friday release was incomplete, and that the Justice Department said it plans to release records on a rolling basis.

It blamed the delay on the time-consuming process of obscuring survivors’ names and other identifying information.

The department has not given any notice when more records might arrive.

+11
View gallery

The Justice Department did not say why the files were removed or whether their disappearance was intentional. Pictured is an undated photo of Jeffrey Epstein that was released by the DOJ

That approach angered some Epstein accusers and members of Congress who fought to pass the law forced the department to act. Instead of marking the end of a yearslong battle for transparency, the document release Friday was merely the beginning of an indefinite wait for a complete picture of Epstein’s crimes and the steps taken to investigate them.

‘I feel like again the DOJ, the justice system is failing us,’ said Marina Lacerda, who alleges Epstein started s3xually abusing her at his New York City mansion when she was 14.

Federal prosecutors in New York brought s3x trafficking charges against Epstein in 2019, but he killed himself in jail after his arrest.

The documents just made public were a sliver of potentially millions of pages records in the department’s possession.

In one example, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Manhattan federal prosecutors had more than 3.6 million records from s3x trafficking investigations into Epstein and Maxwell, though many duplicated material already turned over by the FBI.

Many of the records released so far had been made public in court filings, congressional releases or freedom of information requests, though, for the first time, they were all in one place and available for the public to search for free.

Ones that were new were often lacking necessary context or heavily blacked out.

A 119-page document marked ‘Grand Jury-NY,’ likely from one of the federal s3x trafficking investigations that led to the charges against Epstein in 2019 or Maxwell in 2021, was entirely blacked out.

It is has since become un-redacted.

+11
View gallery

Photographs of celebrities including Bill Clinton, Mick Jagger and Richard Branson, and Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, were released by the US Justice Department as part of the long-awaited Epstein files

+11
View gallery

Pictured: Redacted pages from the Epstein files

Trump’s Republican allies seized on the Clinton images, including photos of the Democrat with singers Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.

There were also photos of Epstein with actors Chris Tucker and Kevin Spacey, and even Epstein with TV newscaster Walter Cronkite. But none of the photos had captions and was no explanation given for why any of them were together.

The meatiest records released so far showed that federal prosecutors had what appeared to be a strong case against Epstein in 2007 yet never charged him.

Transcripts of grand jury proceedings, released publicly for the first time, included testimony from FBI agents who described interviews they had with several girls and young women who described being paid to perform s3x acts for Epstein. The youngest was 14 and in ninth grade.

One had told investigators about being s3xually assaulted by Epstein when she initially resisted his advances during a massage.

Another, then 21, testified before the grand jury about how Epstein had hired her when she was 16 to perform a s3xual massage and how she had gone on to recruit other girls to do the same.

‘For every girl that I brought to the table he would give me $200,’ she said. They were mostly people she knew from high school, she said. ‘I also told them that if they are under age, just lie about it and tell him that you are 18.’

The documents also contain a transcript of an interview Justice Department lawyers did more than a decade later with the US attorney who oversaw the case, Alexander Acosta, about his ultimate decision not to bring federal charges.

Acosta, who was labor secretary during Trump’s first term, cited concerns about whether a jury would believe Epstein’s accusers.

+11
View gallery

Jeffrey Epstein was charged with s3x trafficking of minors

He also said the Justice Department might have been more reluctant to make a federal prosecution out of a case that straddled the legal border between s3x trafficking and soliciting prostitution, something more commonly handled by state prosecutors.

‘I’m not saying it was the right view,’ Acosta added. He also said that the public today would likely view the survivors differently.

‘There’s been a lot of changes in victim shaming,’ Acosta said.

Trump once moved in the same Palm Beach and New York party scene as Epstein, appearing with him at events throughout the 1990s. He severed ties years before Epstein’s 2019 arrest and faces no accusations of wrongdoing in the case.

But his right-wing base has long fixated on the Epstein saga and conspiracy theories alleging the financier ran a s3x trafficking ring for the global elite.

Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, remains the only person convicted in connection with his crimes, and is serving a 20-year sentence for recruiting underage girls for the former teacher and banker, whose death was ruled a suicide.